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Friday, May 8, 2009

Kaiser Rolls

I was ten years old and safely cocooned in the old neighborhood on the South side of Chicago. In the wider world, war raged in Korea and the existence of a hydrogen bomb was confirmed by President Truman. Credit cards had just been introduced and mass production of main frame computers was underway. Automania was sweeping the country and folks were living comfortably on an income that averaged $2992 a year. That income made extras possible and contributed to the development of yo-yo mania among the young. I was a yo-yo maniac. Wednesdays were a special day. The Duncan yo-yo man came to the neighborhood to demonstrate the very latest of his tricks and conduct a contest using members of the audience. I was awfully good. As a matter of fact, I was fierce and ended my career with 3 gold and 2 silver yo-yos to commemorate my prowess. We won't speak of bragging rights. My Walk the Dog, Loop the Loop and Around the World were legend, but because I was small I was not always chosen from the chorus of "pick me" that proceeded each contest. These were elbow-room only affairs and to get a decent spot you had to beat the crowd. That meant lunch at Mary's Deli. That was also a good thing. Mary and her husband lived in the back of the store, their home separated from the deli by a curtain. I suspect their noses became inured over time to the smell of dill and cheese and pastrami that assaulted the senses as you walked in the door. Mary's sandwiches were Lucullian. It was the rolls that did it - her Kaiser rolls were to die for. They were eggy, slightly sweet and lightly laced with cinnamon. Today's recipe is my first attempt to recreate the rolls. I'll be making these again, but with more egg and a tad more sugar next time out. I'll update you as my experiment progresses. My changes to the recipe will be highlighted in red. If you like to learn how to shape Kaiser rolls I highly recommend a quick trip to The Fresh Loaf for a tour du jour. The rolls are simple to make and once you're comfortable with the five-fold technique they're actually quite easy to shape. Here's the recipe.

Kaiser Rolls

Ingredients:3 1/2-4 cups (1 lb.) bread or unbleached all-purpose flour1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast1 teaspoon salt2 tablespoon sugar1 teaspoon cinnamon1 tablespoon malt powder1 1/4 cups (10 oz.) water1 tablespoon shortening, butter, or oil1 egg1 egg white1/4 to 1/2 cup poppy seedsDirections:1) Combine 3 cups flour, yeast, salt, sugar, cinnamon and malt powder in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir in water, eggs and shortening. Mix for 5 to 7 minutes, adding flour only as necessary to form a tacky but not terribly wet dough. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double in volume, about 1 hour. Punch down and let rise another hour before shaping. 2) Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Cover the surface of a cookie sheet with poppy seeds. Set aside. To shape rolls, divide dough into 8 smaller pieces. Working on a lightly floured surface roll pieces of dough into balls and cover them with a damp kitchen towel; let sit for 5 minutes. Flatten into disks. Let rest another 5 minutes. Fold sides to center. Seal. Place them face down on prepared cookie sheet. This will keep seals from splitting while they rise. Cover with towel and let rise for 1 hour. Flip rolls upright in pan. Place in oven. Spray sides of oven with water to create steam. Bake until a deep golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove to rack to cool. Yield: 8 rolls.

I enjoyed your story. In my childhood days it was 'klackers' we played with. Those 2 heavy balls on a length of cord ....i seem to remember they played havoc with knuckles! Love the rolls - I make a lot of bread, usually rolls and freeze them so we always have a fresh 'something' for breakfast. Saying that, the freezer is bare of rolls right now & hubbie is due home from a business trip, so guess what I'm going to make today...!

Will you just take a look at those GORGEOUS kaiser rolls! I have wanted to learn how to make these and thought they may not be something easily done in the home. You have inspired me! Beautiful, beautiful!

Lori, I hope you get back to read this. Malt powder is used to sweeten and help brown the rolls. This is not ovaltine. Malt powder is available in health food stores. I've never used malt syrup, so what follows is a guess...honey can be used to replace sugar, so shouldn't you be able to substitute malt syrup for sugar as well.

The Kaiser Rolls are beautiful!I really admire your folding techinque - I tried it once and it was a total desaster, the rolls looked so ugley. But looking at your nice pictures I think i will try it again.

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